Analysis & Opinion

TOKYO Nov 1 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury debt prices slipped
slightly in Asia on Thursday, with investors reluctant to take
aggressive positions ahead of Friday's employment data as well
as next week's U.S. presidential election.

* China's official and private sector factory surveys also
undermined prices of safe-haven debt in Asia. The reports showed
that the world's second largest economy is finally regaining
traction, although the recovery remains sluggish.

* U.S. trading of Treasury debt resumed on Wednesday as
electricity and transportation in the Northeast slowly began to
return to normal after a massive storm slammed the region and
closed the bond market for a day and a half.

* "There might be some profit-taking ahead of the month-end
gains, but there probably aren't going to be big moves ahead of
the payrolls report and next week's election, particularly now
that a new month has begun and people can wait a bit," said a
fixed-income fund manager at a Japanese asset management firm in
Tokyo.

* October U.S. payrolls numbers on Friday are expected to
show a rise of 125,000, but not enough to prevent the
unemployment rate from ticking up to 7.9 percent from the
previous month's 7.8 percent, according to economists polled by
Reuters.

* Investors also weighed the possible outcomes of next
Tuesday's U.S. presidential vote. Some believe the Federal
Reserve would be less likely to continue its easy policy under
Republican challenger Mitt Romney than it has been under
President Barack Obama.

* Yields on U.S. 10-year Treasury notes rose to
1.71 percent on Thursday from 1.69 percent in U.S. trading the
previous day.

Benchmark yields gained nine basis points in October, as
some evidence suggested the U.S. economic recovery is on firmer
footing.

* Yields on 30-year bonds rose to 2.88 percent
from 2.85 percent in U.S. trading on Wednesday.